Thursday: Queenstown, Dart River Jetboat, Queenstown

Here are a few photos of the beautiful Millbrook Resort outside Arrowtown where we stay 3 nights. We arrived late at night and leave early in the mornings, so have not really seen the grounds. I was taking a picture of the restful ducks when all of a sudden they come waddling up the slope thinking I had bread for them... oops!

8 am shuttle into Queenstown. It's a 25 min ride. Town is filled year round with sports-minded, active tourists. There're activities such as bungy jumping, jetboat riding, fishing, hiking, cycling, snow skiing, rafting, sky-diving -- basically, name it and they probably have it in Queenstown. How about jumping off a cliff tethered to a rope, freefalling 200 feet, and smoothly entering a 700 feet
swing at 90 mph?

Here a Papillon waits for her owner outside a coffee shop.

After doing some errands in Queenstown, we're driven 30 min north to Glenorchy.

This small area is the site of many movies scenes including Wolverine, Narnia 2, Lord of the Rings, and Vertical Limit -- even a Coors Beer commercial! NZ depicted as Colorado! Our guide says the population of Queenstown swells by more than 1500 people when the movie crews move into town.

(They move the sheep to different pastureland, when filming)

Ian leads us on a special nature walk through ancient native forests that are protected and have basically been left to exist just as they did hundreds of years ago.

Finally it is our turn to ride the Dart River jetboat and we hold on for dear life as we roar up and down the canyon doing wild 360 degree turns and going 60 mph!! This area was the backdrop for Isengard (realm of the enemy) in the LOTR.

Back in Queenstown, Aline and I have dinner at Brazz -- She had venison medallions and I had BBQ ribs. (Sorry Fritz, neither of us were in the mood for pasta or pizza at The Cow. We'll save it for next time.)